A Bankotsu Story : Broken Promise
by Moon's Envoy
Summary: Before the band of seven got killed by the men who had hired them, they were traveling all over the country. One day, Bankotsu comes across a girl he used to know. Even though she had told him she would marry him, now she seems to think that promise doesn't count anymore. They're not kids anymore, and her idea of love could be very different from what he thinks love is all about.
1. Childhood Memories

|12 years earlier|

'Michiko, be a good girl and stay here, okay?' her father said as he motioned for her to sit down on one of the pillows in the room. He was here on business again, though with her full six years of age she didn't really know what that business was supposed to be. Her father walked further, leaving Michiko in the room on her own. One of the servants brought her some tea, but left the girl alone again quite soon.  
>Being left alone in a room like this wasn't terribly interesting for a young child. Her father was a smart man, but he sure didn't know what it was to be a kid in this kind of circumstance. She pulled a small children's book from her kimono sleeves, before getting up so she could go and read outside. The man's house they were in now was at a busy street, so she wasn't supposed to go out through the front door. Instead she made her way to the back garden, which had a fence around it so people wouldn't run through it.<p>

In the garden was a lovely peach tree. It was big, and the peaches were ripening up very nice. Michiko thought that if she asked nicely, maybe the adults would let her have a peach. Adults really like it when you asked things nicely. They also liked it if you did your best to study a lot, and were quiet. The small girl picked out a big root to sit on, so her kimono wouldn't get dirty from sitting on the ground. A little while later she was so absorbed in her story, she didn't notice time passing by.  
>A slipper fell next to her from the tree. Surprised she looked up, to see two boys in the peach tree. The oldest one had a peach stuffed in his mouth, next to the ones he had hidden in his shirt for future eating. The youngest one was the one who had dropped his slipper. Dark blue eyes looked down at her in mild annoyance.<br>'Hey girl! Give me my slipper!' he shouted at her, sitting in the tree.  
>'What are you doing up there?' she asked, standing up. She craned her neck all the way up so she could see what the two boys were doing. The youngest one casually picked a peach and stuffed it in a bag he had tied around his waist.<br>'What do you think? We're stealing peaches, of course.' He answered her. 'If you want one, just come up here and give me my slipper. Then I'll share.'  
>The older boy looked at her in mild annoyance. 'Bankotsu, that's a girl. You don't expect her to be able to climb up a tree, right?'<br>'I wanna see if she can.' The younger boy replied to his friend. The older boy looked like he was almost twice her age, but that didn't stop her from sticking out her tongue at him.

'I can do anything a stupid boy can do.' She said back to them, slipping her book back in her sleeve. She added the slipper to it after beating the dirt off, before she started to walk around the tree. She started to pout when she couldn't find a way to go up.  
>'You're pretty stupid, right?' Bankotsu taunted from his place in the tree. 'Why don't you try to use that rock over there?' he pointed to said rock, which was close to a branch that looked like it would be able to support her.<br>Michiko stuck out her tongue out again, having no better reply to this kind of event. She had climbed up a tree before… once. She hoped she wouldn't fall down, because this time there wasn't a pond right next to it she could fall into. The youngest boy was five branched higher up while his friend was even higher than that, starting his second peach. When the older boy caught her looking, he stuck out his tongue out back at her, as a revenge for her earlier transgression.  
>Bankotsu kept pointing out where she had to climb so she could reach him. When she finally reached the same branch he was on, she remained close to the trees trunk, asking him to come closer to her.<p>

He sat down next to her, putting his slipper back on. After he had done that, he looked at Michiko, inspecting her.  
>'You shouldn't steal peaches.' She told him, pouting. He ignored her comment, plucking an especially big peach.<br>'Why not? It's not like the guy living here is going to eat all of them. Would be a waste of good food, and me and Jakotsu like good food.' Jakotsu let himself dangle from a higher branch, until his feet reached the same branch the two younger children were on.  
>'Why are you talking to her? She's just a kid.' He asked, giving Michiko a sideways glance as he adjusted his shirt. It was overflowing with peaches. The girl gave them both disapproving glances, before she pulled out her book to prove her point.<br>'Because! There's a story in here about a thief, and a lot of bad things happened to him. Hey!' she yelled out when Bankotsu grabbed the book from her hands. When she tried to take it back, he stopped her with one hand, leafing through the book with his other.

'There aren't enough pictures in this book to understand the story!' he exclaimed, looking disappointed. 'Don't tell me you can read this?' he asked her, giving her a look that showed more interest than he had before.  
>'I can! Now give that back!' she demanded. Bankotsu handed the book to Jakotsu, who started to leaf through it as well. The younger boy held her back, even though she didn't dare to move much on the tree branch.<br>'We will. But you have to do something for us.' Bankotsu said. 'First, what's your name?'  
>'Michiko.' She mumbled, looking aggravated with the situation.<br>'Michiko – chan, we'll give you your book back, but you have to learn us read it first.' Bankotsu announced, while the older boy nodded absently before adding the book to the collected peaches.  
>'Well… okay. But why can't you give me my book back now? It's my favorite!' she looked like she was ready to cry. The boys didn't look concerned about that in the least.<p>

'Because, if we give it back to you now, than you probably won't come back. But if you're a good girl, and you come back and teach us, we can play together.'  
>'I don't want to play with her.' Jakotsu said, looking annoyed at that promise.<br>'Play? What kind of games?' she inquired, her curiosity piqued. The man that lived here didn't have any children, and she wasn't allowed to go on the street to look for playmates. 'And can we play here?'  
>Bankotsu frowned. 'We could stay here… but we can go to the forest and play hide-and-seek, or villain and samurai or demon and slayer! Doesn't that sound nice?'<br>'I guess. But you have to promise! Pinkie swear on it!' she demanded. The boys complied with her request, before they got up to leave when they heard someone in the house call her name. Bankotsu told Jakotsu to help her down, and the older complied, even if he didn't look like he enjoyed the request.  
>'Michiko – chan!' Bankotsu yelled after her. When she turned around, he threw the big peach he had gotten from the tree down. 'Come back soon, okay? I'll be waiting!'<br>She caught the peach, fumbling with her two hands. The boys left the garden by dropping down from the branches that grew over the fence. Michiko smiled. Now she wouldn't have to play alone anymore when she came here with her father.

|A Few Months Later|

'You're late.' Bankotsu told her as he helped her up the last branch. He didn't even have to try very hard to help her get up. Michiko looked around the tree to see where Jakotsu was.  
>'Where's Ja-chan? I have a present for him.' She asked, showing Bankotsu the package that had made it hard for her to get up. The boy had grudgingly accepted her once Michiko had let him try on her hair ornaments.<br>'He had to stay home today, his mother wasn't feeling too well.' Bankotsu told her, sizing up the package in her hands. 'What's in there?' he asked.  
>'My sister said that she doesn't need this kimono anymore, because she doesn't like the colors. So I thought, maybe Ja-chan will be happy with this. He always thinks my kimono are pretty.'<br>Bankotsu nodded when she said that. 'That will really make him happy, yes.' He looked at her, expectantly. 'Do you have anything for me?'  
>She pulled out a piece of several colored threads entwined. He looked at it quizzically. 'You got me a piece of thread?' he sounded disappointed.<p>

She shook her head, motioning him to turn around, pulling out a comb as he did so. 'It's pieces of silk from my kimono, the one with the butterflies. You said you liked it, Ban-chan. That's why I cut some off, to tie your hair together.'  
>'You ruined your kimono?' he asked, looking back at her. She smiled, and started to get the knots out of his growing hair.<br>'I didn't ruin it. I cut it from places that nobody will ever see. And you're letting your hair grow so long, it had to be tidied up. It'll be as long as mine soon.' She added, trying to not hurt him while combing out his hair.  
>'… I like long hair.' He mumbled, not looking at her. He felt how she started to braid his hair for him, 'tidying it up' as she liked to call it. When she finished, he could just see the colorful piece of entwined silks that was now keeping his hair together in the braid.<br>'You look nice with a braid, Ban-chan. Just like the great hero Susanoo.' She said admiringly when he turned back around. Her dark brown eyes seemed to sparkle as she clapped her hands happily.

'You think so?' he asked, surprised. He smiled when she told him 'yes, you do', before he pulled out the book he had brought back with him. He liked to read the stories, even though it wasn't easy. And he would have to pay double attention, since Jakotsu wasn't here to help him re-read it later.  
>She placed her finger on the beginning of the sentence he had to read. 'The… there once was a… bandit. And he…'<br>The words didn't come as fast as he liked, and sometimes he got really frustrated at the book or at her. But already he could read a little bit, and she'd start to teach him how to write soon too. The story they were reading now was really short, so he got to the ending fairly quickly as well.  
>'… and the bandit ma-married the princess, and… they lived habbily ever after.'<br>'Happily.' She corrected him, pointing at the paper.  
>'Happily.' He repeated after her, angry at himself that he had made such a simple mistake.<br>Michiko took out some rice cakes her father had given her as a treat, sharing them fairly with her friend. They sat in the tree like that, eating their rice cakes and watching the street next to the garden, filled with people.  
>'Michiko – chan… are you a princess?' Bankotsu eventually asked her. He had already asked Jakotsu about it, but the older boy had started laughing hysterically at that. The older boy had replied that there was no way Michiko was a princess. Princesses didn't climb trees.<br>Michiko thought about that for a little while. 'Daddy says I'm his princess… but I don't think I'm really a princess. Those are usually girls with really large houses and rich parents. Daddy works as a clerk for the daddies of princesses.' She had just recently learned the word clerk, and thought it sounded a bit weird. She wondered what a clerk had to do all day long.

'Oh…' he sounded confused about that. He had been sure she was a princess, because she was smart, and could read, and sing little songs to him. 'Then can we still live happily ever after, you think?' he asked again.  
>Michiko thought about what the fairytales said about that. 'I think you have to marry someone to be able to live with them happily ever after, right?'<br>Bankotsu nodded, and put two and two together according to his logic. 'Then, Michiko – chan, will you marry me?' he asked, putting the rest of his rice cake in his mouth.  
>'You want to marry me?' the girl asked, surprised.<br>'If you marry someone, you live together forever, right? Then Jakotsu can come and live with us too, and we can live happily ever after forever.'

Michiko's smile grew bigger when she heard that. 'That sounds like a lot of fun! Okay, then, I'll marry you, Ban-chan.'  
>'Pinkie swear on it, okay?' he asked her. She agreed, and then they returned to eating rice cakes, and talking about adventures until the people in the house started to yell her name again. Before Bankotsu helped her climb down again, he pressed a kiss on her cheek.<br>'Don't tell anyone I kissed you, okay?' he asked her. She nodded, blushing red, before running to the house.

|One Month Later|

Michiko ran into the garden, crying. The two boys weren't there yet, which sometimes happened. She continued to cry, sometimes trying to stop which only resulted in more painful sobs. She couldn't believe this was happening to them.  
>The boys arrived a few minutes later, when her crying had subsided. When they saw her red eyes, they let themselves drop from the tree in surprise. Jakotsu was the first to reach her, with his longer legs.<br>'Michiko, what happened to you? Did you fall again?' he asked, bending through his knees to be on the same level as her. She shook her head, trying not to cry. By the time Bankotsu had reached them, her tears were flowing again. When the boys kept asking what was going on, she finally told them.  
>'Daddy… daddy was asked to work for an important man. But the man lives far away… so… so we have to go and live there. So I won't be able to come and play anymore.'<br>Bankotsu stomped his foot on the ground when he heard that. 'No! You can't do that, Michiko – chan. You promised to marry me, right? If you leave, we can't all be together as a big family.'

'I can't really see what you're going to do about that though, brother.' Jakotsu said, standing up. He was wearing the kimono Michiko had brought him. He was also sporting a black eye he had gotten in a fight recently. Michiko had been scared when she had been told that the two boys had been in a fight, though she had been relieved when she had been told that they had won.  
>'I'm going to tell her father that he can't take her away.' The boy exclaimed. Before Michiko could say anything to stop him, he was already inside shouting about wanting to see her father. The adults of the house soon came out, surprised to find a street urchin inside.<br>'What do you want with me, kid? And how do you know my daughter's name?' her father asked. He looked very tired from talking with the man that lived here.  
>'You can't take Michiko – chan away! She's going to be my wife, she promised. It was a pinkie promise, so you know she can't break that.'<br>'Brother.' Jakotsu mumbled, coming into the room together with Michiko. Her father looked even more surprised to see a boy in a kimono that was discarded from his house a while ago.

'Michiko, what is the meaning of this?' her father asked her. The girl blushed, clasping her hands behind her back.  
>'It's true, daddy. I promised to marry Ban-chan. We're going to be a family, together with Ja-chan.' She explained.<br>Her father let out a sigh. Four guards came inside the room, two for every boy. Bankotsu began to swear loudly when the men lifted him up. He was giving them a struggle, but he couldn't break free. Michiko looked on, worried about her friends.  
>He lowered his head to the level of Bankotsu, meeting the dark blue eyes of the minor romantic with a look of humor in his eyes. 'I'm sorry, little friend. But even if Michiko has said that she wants to marry you, her father is the one who decides who she will be marrying. Don't worry, there are plenty of other girls in the world. You can marry one of those and be perfectly happy with your life.'<p>

He motioned the men to remove the boys. Michiko could hear them shouting to let go of them immediately. She worried about her friends. Bankotsu had looked like he really was hating every moment of what had been happening.  
>'Daddy… can I go and say goodbye to them? Please?' she pleaded. She hadn't told them where they would be going. If her friends knew that, then maybe they would be able to find her when they were old enough to go somewhere without adults. Her father shook his head sadly, looking at the girl in a way that suggested that she still had a lot to learn before she could be trusted on her own.<br>'I'm sorry Michiko. But that boy wasn't really someone you should waste your life on. Where we are moving to soon, there will be a lot of other children to play with. You will forget about him soon enough. In a few months, you won't even be able to remember his name. You'll see.'


	2. The Bride To Be

|Town of Shioya|

Bankotsu sauntered down the road, with Jakotsu right next to him. Behind him, Renkotsu and Ginkotsu were following, the latter making ominous creaking noises every second step he took. With a smile Bankotsu touched the money pouch tied to his hip. It made soft jingling noises with every step he took, testifying to another job they had done more than well.  
>'Where are we going again, Big Brother?' Jakotsu asked, pausing to scratch his legs before quickly following after the shorter man. Bankotsu scratched his head. 'There's a castle around here… the daimyo there was looking for some muscle, so I was thinking about informing for a job there. If we don't like it, we've got enough cash to just up it and leave.'<p>

Behind them, Renkotsu let out a loud sigh, causing the pair to look behind their shoulders to see what the problem was. Bankotsu's raised eyebrow was all the man needed to start talking.  
>'I'd rather we stay in that place for a little while. Some blood got in Ginkotsu's system, so if I don't get to a smith shop he won't be any use at all.'<br>Ginkotsu let out one of his typical laughs, causing red flakes to spurt from his mouth. Bankotsu stepped up closer to the mix of man and machine, fascinated by the event.  
>'That's pretty disgusting, Ginkotsu. I'm betting you can make a bunch of men wet their pants using only that trick.'<br>'Thanks, boss.' Ginkotsu answered, spraying more red flakes around.  
>'That's the place then?' Jakotsu asked, pointing towards an imposing castle.<br>Bankotsu looked towards the place, nodding once. 'That's it. Better get going, I feel like sleeping in a bed for once.'

|Later|

'So then we will need you and your men to move to this position, and decimate the numbers there.' General Oda finished, shoving some pins on a map in front of Bankotsu. He took the saucer of sake from the hands of the serving girl, surveying the map for possible ambushes.  
>'Sounds easy enough. What's the payment?' he asked, before downing most of the contents of his saucer in one go. The general consulted some papers, merely sipping his sake.<br>'According to this, we'd be able to pay up to fifty ryo, ten bags of rice… and an ample supply of sake for you and your men.' He added the last bit on a thinking tone as he saw how Bankotsu downed the last bit of sake.  
>The mercenary let out a small whistle when he heard the promised amount. 'I'll take the half up front, if you don't mind. In the spirit of doing good business.'<br>The general sighed, and motioned that that was okay for him. 'Just one thing. Are you sure you'll be able to complete the job with just four people?'  
>Bankotsu cocked his head to the side. 'We should do just fine. But we're still recruiting, so I'll be keeping an eye out when we're fighting to see if there's someone who's good enough to join us. Can't wait to increase the Band of Four to the Band of Five.' With that last remark, more to himself than to the general, he walked out of the room.<p>

The others were waiting outside for him, looking up at once when their leader came out of the negotiations. 'And?' Renkotsu asked him.  
>'More than enough reward for the small thing they're asking. Still, it's probably going to be a rather boring battle.' Bankotsu replied sadly.<br>The men nodded, satisfied with this answer. Before they had taken a few steps, they turned around to see why Bankotsu wasn't following them.  
>'I'm going to read a little bit outside.' He said, waving a little book in the air as he walked on. Renkotsu seemed to be almost pissed when he saw the 'Older Brother' walk off like that. 'That's the only book he ever reads.' He commented, walking next to Jakotsu. 'Can't he get a new one?'<br>'Don't say that when he can hear you.' Jakotsu warned, inspecting his nails. 'Or he'll start to rant about his lost bride again. Though to be honest, she wasn't that cute.'  
>Ginkotsu chuckled at that. 'Jealous, Jakotsu?'<br>'Of a girl? Hardly. I have more charms than a scrawny woman could ever have.' The slender man answered as he viciously eyed a servant girl rushing by.

Meanwhile, Bankotsu had finally found the way outside. As he walked past some of the guards, he could hear them whispering among one another.  
>'Fuji-sama has disappeared again.' The first one said, just audible.<br>'That's the third time this week alone. I thought she was going to start to comply to general Oda's wishes.' The second one whispered back.  
>'The servant girls say that she's taking advantage of her last week to have some fun. Then she'll start to behave like a proper wife.' A third one answered.<br>'General Oda won't be pleased if he finds out. The Lady has commanded that we have to find her without letting anyone know she went missing again.'

Bankotsu tapped the book against his leg as he kept walking. If the guards kept talking like fishwives where anybody could hear them, the general was more than likely to find out. For a moment he had a bit of foolish hope. Michiko's last name had been Fuji. He had found out about that through a lot of asking around after she had left, and not without a few bruises either. Jakotsu had been a good guy to help him too.  
>'Like I'm going to find her here.' he said to himself. If he ever was going to find her, it would be in an epic battle against terrifying demons. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted when the tree he walked by dropped a sandal on his head.<br>'Ah!' he said, more out of surprise than actual pain. He picked up the assailant, looking up in the tree for a clue. There was a hint of color among the branches, but he couldn't be sure. He looked back at the sandal. It was too small to belong to a guy, not to mention the usual hemp cords had been replaced by silk ones.  
>'A woman?' he thought. He looked around before placing his Banryu down on the ground. He didn't have to worry about it being stolen; by the time enough men had gathered to carry it, he would be back down already.<p>

In a few supple jumps, he was among the tree foliage. He looked around him, but didn't see anything until he looked up. A leg was dangling down, with a shoeless foot. He grinned when he found the culprit to the unexpected attack. The sides of a pale yellow kimono fluttered next to the leg, and he thought he could hear the rustling of a page turning. He scratched his head, looking down at the ground for a moment. It couldn't really be her, could it? After more than a decade of keeping his eyes open for any sign of Michiko, what were the odds that she would be sitting directly above him?  
>Deciding there was no time like the present, he grabbed the branch above him, hoisting himself up without any visible effort.<br>There was indeed a girl sitting with her back against the trunk of the tree, her dark brown eyes skimming the page in front of her. Her bangs almost shielded her eyes as she kept on reading, unaware of the intruder in her private sanctuary. Was he mistaken when he thought he could see a few white strands of hair in there? He thought she could be a grown-up Michiko, but it was hard to tell. Would she still remember him?  
>'I found your shoe.' He announced, clearing his voice a bit.<p>

Michiko looked up from her book when she heard a voice close to her. There was a man squatting on the branch in front of her, holding up a sandal. Surprised she lifted the foot that had been dangling down, and saw that her sandal had indeed fallen off. She looked back to the man, at a sudden loss for words to a stranger who had climbed a tree to give her back a shoe.  
>'Thank… you?' she uttered, looking at the purple tattoo on his forehead. He didn't look like someone who lived in the castle. She would have remembered someone who dressed so differently. Most of his clothing was white, except for a few details. Looking back to him, she was almost shocked to see dark blue eyes. She could remember a young boy with eyes like those.<br>'You're welcome.' He answered, sounding amused. He started to walk closer to her, not seeming in the slightest bit worried about falling from the tree. He stopped right before her, looking down on her. The sun threw specks of colored light on his face, as he kept the amused look on his face. He knelt down on one knee, slightly closer than was appropriate. Michiko pressed her back closer to the tree, trying to increase the distance.  
>'Fuji-sama?' he asked her.<br>'Yes.' She managed to reply. He was looking at her so intently that she started to feel very uncomfortable. As if he was looking for something.  
>'And your first name, it's Michiko, isn't it?' he asked again, almost forcing her to give him an affirmative answer.<br>'It is.' She answered again. He leant in closer to her, his hand reaching out for her. She started to panic, until he suddenly grabbed her shoulder and gave it a shake, not letting go of her.

'That's great, that's really great. I have one more question for you. Did you live in a village called Itan around twelve years ago?' he looked at her expectantly.  
>'How do you know this? Who are you?' she asked, gripping her book with the one hand and her kimono by the shoulder with the other. He wasn't really hurting her, but he came dangerously close to surpassing a tolerable level of pressure.<br>He started to laugh, grabbing her face with his other hand. Blue eyes looked in hers, and for a moment she felt absurdly safe with this stranger in a tree.  
>'Don't you remember me? Bankotsu! You didn't forget me, did you?' he asked, not sounding worried in the least about that possibility.<br>'Ban… Ban-chan?' she asked. She still remembered the young boy that had made her climb a tree when she had been so much younger. With the passing years he had become a really fond memory to her, something she cherished when she felt alone. 'Ban-chan, is that you? Really?'

He nodded, and let go of her chin, instead placing his hand to the side of her face. His hand felt warm and callused. 'Michiko… I found you. This is great. And look at you, you've really grown up!'  
>'I've grown up? Just look at you!' she replied, letting go of her kimono and touching the hand that was at the side of her face. She almost felt like crying at the sight of her childhood friend. 'You look like you've seen a lot of things, and done even more! You have to tell me all about it!'<br>He nodded. 'I will. Trust me, I'll tell you everything you want to know.' Before she knew what was going on, he closed his eyes and started to lean in towards her face. When she saw his lips coming closer to her, she panicked. With a start she held her open book in front of her face. The pages were pressed against her lips, and for a moment it was quiet.

'Michiko… what are you doing?' he asked her, sounding surprised. His voice was being muffled out by the book, and judging from the pressure against it, his face was still pressed against it.  
>'Wh-wh-what I doing? What are you doing? What are you thinking?' she stammered, hoping that he couldn't hear how much her heart was hammering away in her chest.<br>'Is there something wrong with a man kissing his bride?' he asked her, pushing the book down. Bankotsu's face stood serious now, as if she had somehow slighted him in the worst possible way.  
>'Your BRIDE?' she asked, now seriously pushing her back against the tree trunk. 'How am I your bride?'<br>'You promised me that we'd be married, before your father took you away! So, now that I've found you, we can finally be married.' He explained, looking hurt that she had forgotten.

'What? I can't even remember that! And… and even if I did promise that, we were children. It's not like we knew what being married means. And you can't be serious about that. Tell me you're making a joke.' She demanded, trying to get up.  
>Bankotsu grabbed her by the arms, lifting her up. 'Of course I'm being serious. I've never even considered another woman as my wife, Michiko. Tell me where your father is, and we'll start making the preparations. He can't refuse me now, you'll see.'<br>'Bankotsu…' she hesitated. She didn't really want to tell him, but the sooner he knew, the better it would probably be. 'There are already preparations being made for my wedding. I'll be married in a week to general Oda. So… you see… it's impossible.'

He looked at her in a stern way. He was barely taller than her, but the way he held her arms made him seem far more intimidating than he had been at a distance. 'No.' he said, simply. 'No. I won't give you up now that I've found you. Tell the general that he can go and suck it, that it's not happening. I'm sure he has heard of the term 'prior engagement' before.'  
>She tried to get away from him, but without being able to move her arms it was a lost cause. He pulled her closer to him, away from the tree. She could feel her knees buckle beneath her, until he was the only thing holding her up.<br>'Do you love him?' he demanded to know. She swallowed. Would he give up if she told him that she did love the general? He kept his gaze steady, though his voice had come through forced.  
>'I've made my peace with my intended husband.' She answered, as close to the truth as she could get. She continued the speech she repeated to herself every night when she couldn't sleep. 'He's a good and righteous man. Because I am his second wife, he will be sure to treat me well because he already knows how to handle a wife. I will do whatever is in my power to be obedient to him and his family, I will love and honour him until the end of my days.'<p>

'Will you? If you don't love him now, will you learn to love him eventually?' Bankotsu sounded disgusted at the mere idea of it all. 'Making peace with something may be good for a few months, but soon you'll grow tired of that man. He's over twenty years your senior, Michiko.'  
>Tears almost sprang to her eyes. 'Don't you think I don't know that? I don't have a choice, Bankotsu. The Lord of this castle would consider it a great honour if I were to marry the general. I don't have a father anymore to take care of my affairs. I could either accept this marriage or be forever a burden to my sister's in-laws.'<p>

'I would have come for you!' Bankotsu said, shaking her once more. She shook her head, trying to get loose from him once more.  
>'I'm going to be married, Bankotsu. Learn to live with that idea. I have.' She replied, trying not to cry. She had been so happy to see her friend here, to be able to talk to the boy that had once played with her. And now she had to hurt him like this. She might have made a promise like that once, but they had been children then. He should have learned that love for adults was an entirely different matter. Marrying him or the general, it would still be marrying a stranger.<p>

Sounds came from beneath the tree. The guards had finally found her. Or they had heard the two of them arguing.  
>'Fuji-sama, is everything alright?' they yelled to the tree.<br>She turned to Bankotsu. 'Bring me to the ground, please.' She tried to sound as polite and composed as she could be. He looked at her, calculating something before doing as she asked. When he deposited her on the ground, he picked up his Banryu and the book he had left lying beneath it. She could see the cover of the book before he tucked it in the red sash around his waist.  
>'Fuji-sama, we heard voices. Are you alright?' one of the guards asked. They all kept a suspicious eye towards Bankotsu.<br>'I'm fine. There was a spider in the tree, that's why I was being so loud. Bankotsu-sama saved me.' She lied, smiling at the guards, before faking a yawn. 'And now I feel so very tired. I feel like I should go to bed right away.'  
>The guards looked at the sun, high in the sky, but didn't dare to say anything about it. She cast a glance at Bankotsu, before hurrying off towards her chambers.<p>

Bankotsu watched as Michiko walked off, ignoring the guards or anything they were saying. Michiko, married to an old geezer? Not after all the time he had spent searching for her. She was going to be his, and his alone. She herself had promised that.  
>With a huff he walked the opposite direction, to see if he could find Jakotsu. So she had learned to live with the idea of being married? If she could stand being married to an old goat like the general, than surely she would be able to stomach a marriage with her dear childhood friend.<p>

He'd make her see that. There was no way he was going to let anyone take her away from him. Not ever.


End file.
